Koll-blottek



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEErcE.

P. B. SHELDON, OF PRATTSBURG, NEV YORK.

ROLL-BLOTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 81,483, dated February 19, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, P. B. SHELDON, of Prattsburg, in the county of Steuben and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Roll-Blotter or Ink-Absorbent; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accoman ing drawings makin@ Dart of thisf specification, in which- Figure l, is a transverse section; and Fig. 2, a perspective View, showing the manner of using it.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in both the figures.

My improved blotter consists of a pair of rollers a, a, placed side by side as represented, and connected together by means of pivots or journals in their ends, which enter holes or boxes for their reception in the end plates, b Z). These end plates are in turn held by being attached to the wooden piece o, being secured thereto by the screws c e orl by any other suitable method of attachment. These plates are made of some soft metal, or composition of metals, which may be readily cast and worked, and which is not liable to tarnish; or they may be cast in brass or iron in one entire piece which takes the place of the two end pieces and ofthe body or frame piece c, and bronzed or finished in an ornamental manner. A knob f, is placed in the center of the frame piece c, which may be conveniently grasped by the thumb and finger for use.

The two rollers are covered with suitable blotting paper, felt cloth, or other material of an absorbent nature, g, which may be so applied as to contain a number of layers, any one of which may be removed when impaired by use, and leave a fresh surface below. The rollers are placed near together, yet not sufficiently so to cause their peripheries to be in contact, while a small supplementary roller Iz., of the same absorbent nature, is placed in the triangular space between the two and the frame-piece c. This has no journals, but rests upon the two principal rollers. Its office is to absorb the superfluous ink which may be left on the surface of the main rollers, or the excess of what they take up at one revolution, so that when the same parts thereof are again brought in contact with the paper, they will not soil its purity. Resting on them by its gravity alone it acts on both equally, and yet its friction does not impede the operation of the blotting rollers in the least. The end plates prevent its escape from the position assigned it.

The combined structure constitutes an article of great convenience for the purpose designed. It is compact, and occupies but little space, and the knob f, being placed in the center, so that it may be lifted by it and balance properly, and when used pressure may be applied by one finger only, placed on the top, and it is equally effective at all points where the rollers touch. Being capable ofsustaining` itself, it is used by the slightest effort of the hand in rolling` it back and forth over the manuscript, while from the duplication of the rollers the result is effectually accomplished in a very limited space of time. It has another peculiar advantage over a singe roller, and over a sheet blotter, which exists in its inability to turn or rub and smear the ink upon the paper while passing over it, since one roller must follow exactly in the track of the other, and cannot be made to do otherwise without considerable effort, if the slightest pressure only is exerted on it, and more especially is its advantage over the single-roller blotter attained by one roller steadying and guiding the other, while the pressure upon the blotter, in 'using it, is applied nearly vertically, and uniformly on all parts, so that there is no liability of a sliding motion upon the paper, which would be sure to smear the same; whereas the single-roller blotter is peculiarly liable to slide on, and smear, the paper, because the act of using it, naturally requires a pressure of the hand more or less obliquely to the paper. Thus the employment of the two rollers, in this caseproduces a useful result, not attainable with a single roller.

IVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The combination of the two rollers c, a, arranged in a suitable holder b, c, f, either with or without the supplementary roller h, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

P. B. SI-IELDON.

Titnesses DAVID F. BURTON, I'VILLIAM Mo CUEDY. 

